Electronic devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA's), often contain small screens with very limited viewing area. They are constrained in terms of how much information can be displayed, and in terms of user interaction capabilities. The keyboards on cell phones, for example, are not conducive for user data entry, and only brief user inputs can be solicited from a user without annoying the user.
User interaction in real time, such as those provided for a user using a PC on the Internet, are often not possible for a user using a cell phone. For example, the amount of textual information cannot be a full page of textual information that is typically made available o a PC. Graphical information also cannot be large. A typical website provides a rich multi-media experience. The same website, when accessed from a cell phone, would be not only unreadable but also frustrating. Thus, there is presenting user with information in order to solicit user input when the user is using a cell phone rather than a PC is a big problem.
Cell phones are therefore a device for which traditional websites are ill prepared to provide information. In addition, surveys or questionnaires that are created for Internet based access via a PC are not appropriate for cell phone access. Asking one or more detailed questions with information on how to answer them is possible on a web page that is accessed from a PC. However, the same web page would be unmanageable and difficult to navigate on a cell phone with a small LCD screen and small keyboard for user input.
Quite often, for marketing purposes, a manufacturer or retailer tries to solicit information and feedback from a customer. Typically, flyers and documents are mailed to customers for them to fill in and send it back. The Internet has facilitated some of these interactions. A user may be requested to visit a website and answers a lot of questions. However, contacting a user is a problem. The manufacturer has to determine some user specific information such as addresses, etc. in order to be able to send them questionnaires or request them to provide feedback. Contacting users via postal services or email for making them answer questionnaires or provide feedback, or answer surveys is therefore time consuming, expensive and labor intensive. Users tend to ignore emails sent to them by considering them to be spam. Postal mails are also often ignored for several reasons, including their association with junk mail.
Often, a question asked of an individual elicits responses that may obviate the need to ask further questions. Unfortunately, traditional questionnaires are not setup to take advantage of users responses. Without detailed instructions provided, questionnaires that try to guide users to specific questions based on their potential answers end up being confusing to a user. Therefore, traditional questionnaires are not flexible or dynamically arranged.
Currently, if a manufacturer, marketing organization or advertising company has to purchase a block of “questionnaire time” (QTime) to be used for conducting surveys or questionnaires, there is no mechanisms or institutions to purchase them from. Similarly, if a carrier wants to sell accumulated QTime to manufacturers of consumer products or advertising and marketing companies, there is no forum or sales environment for them to sell them in.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.